This invention relates to a method and apparatus for upending an item from a prone orientation to an upright orientation, and in particular to an apparatus for continuously upending items of a similar axial length at extremely high speeds and efficiencies, while being readily adjustable to accommodate a large range of different sizes of items to be upended.
In modern packaging machinery, it is often required to upend items from a prone orientation to an upright orientation during the packaging process. Usually upending occurs prior to collating a group of items for further packaging, such as packaging in a container, wrapping the collated items in a plastic film, or otherwise collecting or collating a group of upended items.
Many different types of apparatus have been used in the past for upending. Perhaps the simplest has been a conveyor belt having two levels, where a package will fall from one level to another, and in doing so, be upended due to a combination of the geometry of the belts and gravity. However, such an apparatus requires a very stable package when upended, and tall bottles, rolls o the like cannot readily be upended at high speeds with consistency.
Another type of upender used has been a powered "water wheel", comprising a rotary wheel having a series of slots, each of which accepts an item in the prone orientation at the top of the wheel, and after rotation of the wheel through approximately 90.degree., sets the now-upended item on a conveyor for downstream handling.
All prior apparatus for upending have suffered common disadvantages. Such apparatus is generally a single purpose apparatus, for only one size of package. In the event that a package size change can be accomplished by the apparatus, such change usually requires either the change of a part (such as a new water wheel), or considerable adjustment of parts. Even when adjustments have been possible, the size range of adjustments has been quite small. Finally, generally only one package at a time can be upended due to the geometry of the upending device.
The present invention provides a significant improvement over all prior art upending devices. Not only is the invention a continuous motion device, but also it is able to accommodate a very wide range of sizes of items, and adjustment is accomplished readily by the adjustment of few parts. Furthermore, more than one item may be upended simultaneously, with the number of items being upended limited only by the size of the items in relation to the width of the apparatus of the invention. The invention also accommodates minor variations in package length effectively and without failure, all at extremely high speeds and efficiencies.